4 libffi-3.2.1 was released on November 12, 2014. Check the libffi web
5 page for updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
11 Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain
12 conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
13 compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
14 convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of
15 assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will
16 be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies
17 where the return value for a function is found.
19 Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments
20 are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be
21 told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call
22 a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a
23 bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
25 The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming
26 interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to
27 call any function specified by a call interface description at run
30 FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function
31 interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code
32 written in one language to call code written in another language. The
33 libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent
34 layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must
35 exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed
36 between the two languages.
42 Libffi has been ported to many different platforms.
43 For specific configuration details and testing status, please
44 refer to the wiki page here:
46 http://www.moxielogic.org/wiki/index.php?title=Libffi_3.2
48 At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
51 |-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
52 | Architecture | Operating System | Compiler |
53 |-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
54 | AArch64 (ARM64) | iOS | Clang |
55 | AArch64 | Linux | GCC |
56 | Alpha | Linux | GCC |
57 | Alpha | Tru64 | GCC |
61 | AVR32 | Linux | GCC |
62 | Blackfin | uClinux | GCC |
64 | IA-64 | Linux | GCC |
65 | M68K | FreeMiNT | GCC |
66 | M68K | Linux | GCC |
67 | M68K | RTEMS | GCC |
68 | M88K | OpenBSD/mvme88k | GCC |
69 | Meta | Linux | GCC |
70 | MicroBlaze | Linux | GCC |
72 | MIPS | Linux | GCC |
73 | MIPS | RTEMS | GCC |
74 | MIPS64 | Linux | GCC |
75 | Moxie | Bare metal | GCC |
76 | Nios II | Linux | GCC |
77 | OpenRISC | Linux | GCC |
78 | PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
79 | PowerPC 64-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
80 | PowerPC | AMIGA | GCC |
81 | PowerPC | Linux | GCC |
82 | PowerPC | Mac OSX | GCC |
83 | PowerPC | FreeBSD | GCC |
84 | PowerPC 64-bit | FreeBSD | GCC |
85 | PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv1 | GCC |
86 | PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv2 | GCC |
87 | S390 | Linux | GCC |
88 | S390X | Linux | GCC |
89 | SPARC | Linux | GCC |
90 | SPARC | Solaris | GCC |
91 | SPARC | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
92 | SPARC64 | Linux | GCC |
93 | SPARC64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
94 | SPARC64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
95 | TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux | GCC |
96 | VAX | OpenBSD/vax | GCC |
97 | X86 | FreeBSD | GCC |
98 | X86 | GNU HURD | GCC |
99 | X86 | Interix | GCC |
100 | X86 | kFreeBSD | GCC |
101 | X86 | Linux | GCC |
102 | X86 | Mac OSX | GCC |
103 | X86 | OpenBSD | GCC |
105 | X86 | Solaris | GCC |
106 | X86 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
107 | X86 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
108 | X86 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
109 | X86-64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
110 | X86-64 | Linux | GCC |
111 | X86-64 | Linux/x32 | GCC |
112 | X86-64 | OpenBSD | GCC |
113 | X86-64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
114 | X86-64 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
115 | X86-64 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
116 | Xtensa | Linux | GCC |
117 |-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
119 Please send additional platform test results to
120 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org and feel free to update the wiki page
126 First you must configure the distribution for your particular
127 system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
128 "configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
131 If you're building libffi directly from version control, configure won't
132 exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first.
134 You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
135 header files. To do that, use the --prefix configure switch. Libffi
136 will install under /usr/local by default.
138 If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
139 --enable-debug configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
140 mysteriously while using libffi.
142 Another useful configure switch is --enable-purify-safety. Using this
143 will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
144 are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
145 Purify, as it will slow down the library.
147 It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
148 Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
149 wrapper script during configuration like so:
151 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP"
153 For 64-bit Windows builds, use CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64" and
154 CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64". You may also need to specify --build
157 It is also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with the LLVM
158 project's clang-cl compiler, like below:
160 path/to/configure CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" LD=link CPP="clang-cl -EP"
162 When building with MSVC under a MingW environment, you may need to
163 remove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath'
164 command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required when
165 using MingW-style paths.)
167 For iOS builds, the 'libffi.xcodeproj' Xcode project is available.
169 Configure has many other options. Use "configure --help" to see them all.
171 Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
172 GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make .
174 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
175 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
177 To install the library and header files, type "make install".
183 See the git log for details at http://github.com/atgreen/libffi.
186 Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets.
189 Add C99 Complex Type support (currently only supported on
191 Add support for PASCAL and REGISTER calling conventions on x86
193 Add OpenRISC and Cygwin-64 support.
197 Add AArch64 (ARM64) iOS support.
199 Add m88k and DEC VAX support.
200 Add support for stdcall, thiscall, and fastcall on non-Windows
201 32-bit x86 targets such as Linux.
202 Various Android, MIPS N32, x86, FreeBSD and UltraSPARC IIi
204 Make the testsuite more robust: eliminate several spurious
205 failures, and respect the $CC and $CXX environment variables.
206 Archive off the manually maintained ChangeLog in favor of git
211 Add missing Moxie bits.
212 Fix stack alignment bug on 32-bit x86.
213 Build fix for m68000 targets.
214 Build fix for soft-float Power targets.
215 Fix the install dir location for some platforms when building
216 with GCC (OS X, Solaris).
217 Fix Cygwin regression.
222 Add Blackfin support.
223 Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
224 Add MicroBlaze support.
226 Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
227 Add support for native vendor compilers on
229 Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64.
233 Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
234 Add Linux/x32 support.
235 Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
236 Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
237 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
238 Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
239 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
240 Fix code pessimizations.
243 Add support for Apple's iOS.
244 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
245 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
246 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
248 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
249 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
250 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
251 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
253 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
254 Additional platform support.
257 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
258 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
259 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
260 Build DLL for windows.
263 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
267 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
270 Fix for closures on sh.
271 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
272 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
276 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
280 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
283 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
284 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
285 Clean up test instruction in README.
288 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
289 Thanks to Björn König.
292 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
293 Thanks to David Daney.
296 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
297 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
302 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
305 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
306 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
307 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
311 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
314 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
315 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
318 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
321 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
324 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
325 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
329 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
330 about certain low level code.
331 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
335 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
336 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
337 is now Cygnus Solutions.
340 Added notes about GNU make.
343 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
346 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
347 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
348 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
351 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
354 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
357 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
360 Interface changes based on feedback.
363 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
366 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
367 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
370 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
374 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
375 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
378 First release. No public announcement.
384 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>.
386 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
387 innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
390 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
391 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
393 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
396 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
399 aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
400 alpha Richard Henderson
402 blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
403 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
409 microblaze Nathan Rossi
410 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
413 nios ii Sandra Loosemore
414 openrisc Sebastian Macke
415 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
416 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
417 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
418 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
419 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
422 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
423 tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
425 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
429 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
430 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
432 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
435 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
438 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
440 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
442 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
443 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
445 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
446 author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
447 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.